“You don’t know what may happen from one day to the next,” our pastor stressed, after a service where he had preached on the soon coming of the Lord and the perilous times we live in. The very next day we heard of the credible threat of terrorist activity in our country. Not to mention the record-breaking floods, the wildfires, and the recent earthquakes. Still, life goes on, and the church was looking forward to a “Back to School Bash” for the youth--a cook-out and games by a scenic lake.
The adults were urged to come as support for the youth, and I had promised to make cookies. My husband would be getting off work right at the scheduled time for the party to begin, so I knew we would be a little late. Driving toward the lakeside park, we commented on the huge, black clouds and threatening skies in that direction. After a week of perfect temperatures and blue skies, I hoped a thunderstorm wouldn’t ruin the festivities, as much as we needed the rain.
We didn’t take the printed directions with us, as the oral directions had been simplified to taking a certain road and turning left at the first road. The first road I saw seemed to be a driveway, but I couldn’t be certain. Then we dutifully made a left at the first real road. Soon we were back in town, so that was wrong. Retracing our route, I noticed the “driveway” looked as if it led into a resort area. Nope, we ended in someone’s very nice country estate. Several miles down a windy, bumpy, country road later, we asked directions, got back on the main road, and shortly a picturesque scene met our eyes.
Fingers of a lovely lake spread beside a green area with picnic tables and majestic old trees where families were gathered eating and visiting, some still filling their plates at the grill. I placed my basket of cookies with the others. I was glad we weren’t too late, although drops of rain had started to fall. Since everyone else was ignoring the droplets, we did, too, and they soon stopped. “Look at the rainbow!” someone exclaimed, at the sight of a multicolored arc against the grey clouds.
I was surprised to see one of the couples abruptly head to their car, but the games started as people were finishing their food while we visited in lawn chairs with others. Why are some people walking away talking on cell phones? I wondered. Then there was an announcement that a church member hadn’t been heard from in a couple of days, and there was no response when folks went to check on the elderly lady. Another call came that the family was forcing open the door. Then the pastors were summoned to the home immediately. After they left, another call was received by the woman’s niece, and when she crumpled in tears and disbelief, we knew the worst. A pall hung over the celebration as many began gathering their things to leave.
We couldn’t believe that this smiling, friendly lady who gave warm hugs and was always laughing and that we had seen only last week was gone. She had been a widow for ten years, though, and we had to be glad she was in heaven and reunited with her husband.
Today as I turned on the faucet in the bathroom to get ready to go shopping, nothing came from the spout. Nor was there water at the sink or in the kitchen. “Howard, the water is off!” I yelled to my husband. I finally got through to an emergency line, and was told the water was off all over town. “How long will it be?” I asked, to which I was told, “It may be 10 minutes, or all day. They don’t know what is wrong.”
Well, thankfully, it was off only about four hours, just enough time for us to buy several jugs of water. It is true what the pastor said, “You never know what will happen tomorrow.” At times like this, I remember the rainbow that stood out so brightly over the black cloud. “Hope thou in God,” David tells us in Psalm 42:5. Praise God for that ultimate Hope that will see us through all the times of trouble and uncertainty we may have.
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